Edina Morningside Community Church

Today’s scripture reading: 1 Kings 3:4-28

Sermon audio:

Each week when folks gather for our Tuesday morning Bible study, we bring together different versions of the Bible. It’s illuminating to see how the same Hebrew or Greek words are interpreted by various translators at different times. This week we noticed a particularly sharp difference in translations of what Solomon asks for in his dream, according to verse 9. Should we understand Solomon’s request of God as “an understanding mind” (NRSV), “a discerning heart” (NIV), or a “God-listening heart” (MSG)? Which translation is closest to the truth, and what’s at stake in the choice?

Continue reading “Wisdom to Enact Justice” →

Edina Morningside Community Church

Today’s scripture reading: 2 Samuel 11:1-6, 14-15, 26-27; 12:1-9

Sermon audio:

Some years ago, the church I was serving embarked on an all-church book study, reading together The Heart of Christianity, which is among the very best summaries that I know of for the Christian faith. Author Marcus Borg makes a clear, passionate, and compelling case for the Bible as the heart of our faith, Christ as the heart of God, and justice as the heart of Christ’s love in the world. Borg uses “heart” language throughout the book, and reviews all the ways that “heart” shows up throughout Scripture. He summarizes, “The heart…can be turned toward God or away from God, open to God or closed to God. But its typical condition is that it is turned away from God and ‘closed.’ The Bible speaks of this condition with a rich collection of synonymous metaphors. Our hearts can be ‘shut.’ They can be ‘fat,’ as if encrusted within a thick layer. They can be ‘proud,’ puffed up and enlarged. …They are often ‘hard.’” “The Greek word for this condition,” Borg writes, “is sklerokardia: we have sclerosis of the heart.”^[1]

Continue reading “Transgression and Restoration of Covenant” →